Thursday, February 21, 2008

Engaging communities

As a professional planner (MRTPI) I offer some voluntary time to Planning Aid Wales (PAW) and tonight that took me to Bala for a training event for town and community councils on the new system of Local Development Plans. (LDPs)

Some would say a bit strange given that I spend much of my current day job on LDPs. However I find the process of engaging with town and community councillors on the social, economic and environmental issues that affect land uses in our communities fascinating and informative. They came from far and wide as this was an event through the medium of Welsh and I recommend the PAW events to any town/community councillor.

Planning can often involve difficult judgement of evidence and the more informed stakeholders taking part the better.